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January 2, 2014

Secretary of State Announces Change in Qualifying Date

Secretary of State Jim Bennett announced
today that the close of qualifying for major party candidates in the 2014
election cycle will be February 7th, 2014 at 5:00 PM.

This is much earlier than usual as the
Secretary of State’s office is working to comply with federal laws concerning
military and overseas voters. This change is part of ongoing litigation
with the Department of Justice over military and overseas voting deadlines.

The original date for the end of qualifying
for major party candidates would have been April 4, 2014. This change
will not affect the June 3, 2014 qualifying deadlines for independent
candidates and candidates of parties that did not receive more than 20 percent
of the entire vote cast in the last general election.

“Though we do not have yet an order from the
court, we have agreed with the Department of Justice to move our deadlines up
considerably to get ballots to the Absentee Election Managers in each county,”
said Bennett. “This will allow ballots enough time to be sent to military and
overseas voters well before the federal deadline, which is 45 days before the
date of the election.”

The Secretary of State’s office has been in
constant contact with both chairs of the Alabama Democratic and Republican
parties to let them know that this change would occur. Secretary Bennett
said he has urged the parties to open qualifying for candidates early in order
to account for this change.

“We are doing everything in our power to make
sure that our soldiers have their ballots in hand and can mail them back in
time for their vote to be counted,” said Bennett

The Secretary of State’s office tried to pass
a bill last year in the legislature that would alter the elections deadline
schedule to reflect this end date for qualifying. That bill passed
unanimously in the House, but failed to pass the Senate due to time
constraints.

“We are bringing the bill again this
year. I know that the legislative leadership has every confidence that
this will be passed for future elections and that we will all do our part to
ensure that every vote counts, including military and overseas voters,” said
Bennett.